


Gold cage, hostage to my feelings

by Toomanyfandoms99



Series: (No Longer A) Secret Marriage [8]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Flashbacks, M/M, Secret Marriage
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 06:29:14
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,740
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14231328
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Toomanyfandoms99/pseuds/Toomanyfandoms99
Summary: “Are you sure you want this?”Cas’s voice was so soft, so broken, so insecure, that it took Dean aback.This Cas was new.  This Cas was rarely seen by anyone.Dean squeezed Cas’s hand.  He said the word like a prayer.“Yes.”





	Gold cage, hostage to my feelings

**Author's Note:**

> The title was taken from the song “So It Goes” by Taylor Swift. This is a series of flashbacks that can be seen as a prequel to my first work. I messed with the timeline of Supernatural a little bit to make it work. Enjoy!

Dean didn’t know what it was, exactly, that made him want to kiss Castiel.

Was it the fact that Cas was more wounded than usual? That it took a lot of his grace to heal? That he could have died?

Was it the fact that Dean himself almost died? Was it because of that stupid coven of witches that hurt him? That hurt Cas?

Or was it because that Dean just needed a reason? A reason to close the distance? A reason to tell Cas how he’s felt ever since Purgatory?

Dean wish he knew what triggered it, but seeing Cas patching himself up in their motel room, his clothes in disarray, gave the hunter the courage he needed.

Dean sat next to Cas, who was glancing over at him in surprise.

“Yes?” Cas asked inquisitively.

Dean smiled at the sight before him. Cas had thrown his trench coat across a chair, his dress shirt rumpled and stained with blood, his tie loose, his hair a mess, his blue eyes wide and curious.

Dean wanted to remember this.

The hunter said nervously, “I’m about to do something, and if you don’t like it, you can pull away. Okay?”

Cas blinked, clearly puzzled. “Okay…”

Dean shifted closer to Cas, the seraphim’s eyes flicking to his lips.

Dean screamed internally.

Cas wanted him too.

That motion was all Dean needed to lean forward — the faint scent of copper and aftershave and sweetness that was Castiel enveloping him — and press his lips ever-so-softly against the angel’s.

It took only one second for Cas to reciprocate, deepening the kiss. 

Dean was pretty sure his brain short circuited.

Kissing Cas was like…

Dean couldn’t find the words.

Much too soon, Dean pulled away, Cas’s eyelashes fluttering open dreamily.

Dean smiled softly as Cas’s eyes met his.

“You have no idea,” Cas exhaled, “how long I’ve wanted you to do that.”

Dean chuckled, resting their foreheads together, breathing Cas in. “I’ve wanted you for a while too.”

Cas pulled Dean closer and smiled so brightly that Dean was nearly blinded. They were in their own little world, a bubble that they didn’t want to pop just yet.

Dean could get used to this feeling.

————

“Are you sure you want this?”

Cas’s voice was so soft, so broken, so insecure, that it took Dean aback.

This Cas was new. This Cas was rarely seen by anyone.

Dean squeezed Cas’s hand. He said the word like a prayer. 

“Yes.”

————

“So,” Dean asked, curling up next to Cas on the couch, — Sam had left the room — “what are your thoughts on pet names?”

Cas turned away from the movie playing, accommodating Dean’s sudden closeness by entangling his limbs around the hunter’s.

“I’m not really sure. I couldn’t come up with one for you.”

“Can I pick one for you?”

“Um,” Cas pursed his lips, a blush staining his cheeks, “I-I guess.”

“Let me think...angel?”

Cas scoffed. “How unoriginal.”

“Sweetheart?”

“I’m not a child.”

“Honey?”

Cas bit his lip. “Real funny.”

“Dear?”

“I’m not an old woman.”

Dean stifled a laugh. “Okay, I got one.” He whispered in Cas’s ear, “darlin’.”

Cas’s eyes widened. “Say that again.”

Dean sat on Cas’s lap without warning, the seraphim almost squeaking at the proximity. Dean settled on Cas’s thighs, wrapping his arms around Cas’s neck. 

Dean whispered breathily, “you like that one, don’t you darlin’?”

Cas swallowed, replaying the way Dean’s voice curled around the pet name adoringly.

Cas nodded in answer, Dean kissing him chastely and returning to his spot on the couch.

————

Their first time was hilariously awkward.

Castiel had never felt happier in his life.

————

With Dean pressed against his side, Castiel sighed contentedly.

Dean traced shapes across Cas’s skin lazily, their bodies fitting together like puzzle pieces.

Dean asked, “what were those words you were saying?”

Cas suppressed a laugh as he remembered the breathy words that spilled from his lips. “It was Enochian.”

Dean raised an eyebrow curiously. “Your native language?” Cas nodded. “Am I really that good?”

Cas narrowed his eyes, the hunter laughing softly into Cas’s collarbone.

————

How Castiel found himself in Dean’s bed so often, he would never know.

It took a few weeks after their first time, but Dean finally said it.

“I love you,” Dean whispered into Cas’s cheek.

Cas took this opportunity to smirk. “I know.”

“Did you just,” Dean met the Cas’s coy gaze, “Han Solo me?”

Cas hummed an affirmative, Dean laughing into Cas’s skin.

————

“I knew I would fuck this up.”

Cas said it so somberly that Dean wanted to cry.

“We both fuck up all the time,” Dean replied softly, his face beaten and bloodied. “I’m not giving up on you.”

Cas stared at the ground, in disbelief that he hurt Dean, that Naomi got to him. “You probably should.”

————

“What did I tell you before?”

Cas was falling apart at the seams, hanging on by a thread. He was useless, a useless human, and Dean had to put Sam first. He was a castaway, drifting to shores unknown.

Cas answered, “that you wouldn’t give up on me.”

Dean said resolutely, “that’s right.” He took a step closer. “I will never ever give up on you. If our roles were reversed, would you give up on me?”

Cas shook his head. 

————

When Dean sent away his angel, he drank and drank and drank.

————

Castiel created a life for himself.

It wasn’t a particularly interesting life, but it was a life.

He built himself from the ground up. He worked at a gas station convenience store and slept in a supply closet for weeks.

When he got enough money from his meager paychecks, Cas rented the cheapest motel room he could find. He befriended his coworkers and treated them with kindness. He even babysat their children for extra cash.

Cas bought himself a few outfits too, and learned how to be a functional human being.

All on his own.

It hit him one night — when he was babysitting his coworker’s two toddler daughters and watching some silly children’s show or another — that he got his self-confidence back.

————

Castiel should be angry.

Dean barging into his life and looking at him like he was the most beautiful thing in the world should piss Cas off.

But his anger at Dean dissolved a while ago.

When Dean approached him on his break behind the convenience store, the hunter was clearly shocked at the image before him.

Castiel knew that he had changed. Of course he had.

He had taken up smoking, for one.

He knew how bad it was, how terrible the chemicals tasted, but Cas couldn’t bring himself to care. He liked the way the smoke curled around his mouth, the way it made him look exactly how he felt when he was depressed and alone.

Castiel had felt better, felt in control of himself, felt useful, but he’s pretty sure he would be diagnosed with depression if he was checked out by a doctor.

He was almost glad that Dean pushed him away, given him time to be alone. He had learned a lot, about humans, about Earth, about himself.

But that didn’t excuse Dean now, how he just steamrolled back into Cas’s life, observing the cigarette smoke leave his mouth and evaporate into the atmosphere.

Before Dean could speak a word, Castiel said hollowly, “leave me alone.”

The phrase hit Dean like a ton of bricks, his face contorting, his eyes filled with tears.

Cas may not be angry anymore, but he wanted Dean to know just what he did.

Dean choked out, “Cas-”

“Don’t you ever get tired,” Cas gave his cigarette a puff, sucking smoke into his lungs and releasing it slowly, “of all this back and forth, all this,” he observed the smoke drifting in the air, “turbulence, all these twists and turns and ups and downs?” He let the last of the smoke leave his lips, Dean the personification of a shattered vase. “Because I sure do.” Cas took another puff, waiting for Dean to speak.

Dean swallowed, ready to deflate, or shrink into a puddle of nothing. He said softly, “you gave up on me.” Dean stared at the ground. “I don’t blame you at all.”

Cas let the silence fester, breathing the smoke in, breathing it out, watching the fumes do acrobatics.

He heard Dean suck in a breath. “I’m sick of it.”

Cas blew a smoke ring, Dean’s gaze following the motion, his pupils dilating.

He liked that, huh?

Cas shut down any ideas he was about to entertain.

“And what,” Cas took a puff, “is this glorious ‘it’ you’re referring to?”

Dean seemed to gain a sliver of confidence at Cas’s familiar sarcasm. The shift in his eyes was imperceptible if you didn’t know him.

But oh, did Castiel know Dean Winchester.

Dean said, “I’m sick of,” he swallowed, “being apart from you, of this life I’ve been born into, of something always trying to kill me, of the world tearing us apart over and over again, of having what little happiness I feel get ripped away from me.”

Cas put out his cigarette, stepping on it with the heel of his boot. He exhaled and met Dean’s tumultuous eyes.

“What are you going to do about it, then?”

Cas let his words fill the air for a moment. He started to leave, but Dean said softly, “wait.”

Castiel turned back around.

“I want to visit you,” Dean said gently. “Here. I-if you’ll let me.”

Cas made a show of thinking about it. “Is this your way of apologizing?”

“You deserve more than an apology.”

Cas sighed. “Fine.” As he saw Dean exhale in relief, Cas said, “you have a lot of groveling to do, Dean Winchester.”

Dean nodded profusely. “I’ll do anything for you.”

Cas was almost moved by the statement. He opened the back door to the convenience store. “Don’t wait too long to come back.”

Dean’s mouth quirked upwards. “I won’t.”

————

At first, Castiel thought he imagined it.

There was no way the archangel Gabriel, his older brother, the one who raised him, was standing outside the convenience store.

He saw Gabriel through the window, leaning against a gas station pump. 

Was this a mirage?

Gabriel saw him, and broke out into his most troublesome grin, waving shyly.

Cas made some excuse to the manager to get outside. He was walking towards the gas station pump before he even knew what he was doing.

“Cassie!” Gabriel exclaimed, like he hadn’t been presumed dead for years and this was just another peaceful day in Heaven.

“What,” Castiel said angrily, “the fuck?”

Gabriel’s face fell. “I-”

“You couldn’t have told me that you were okay?” Cas shoved his hands in his work vest pockets. “I fucking mourned you, Gabe.”

Gabriel looked guilty. “I didn’t know where I was, Cassie.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“I died, Cassie,” Gabriel said softly. “I really did. I-I don’t-” the archangel sighed, “I don’t know where I’ve been all this time. I-it was so dark.”

Cas’s anger dissolved, leaving curiosity in its wake. “Dark?”

“Everything was dark. A-and then there was light. And now I’m here. I don’t-” Gabriel stopped himself, his expression screwed up in turmoil.

“Someone brought you back,” Castiel said, awestruck. “It was Fa-”

“I doubt it, Cassie,” Gabriel said. “Let’s not dwell on this.” A little smile reached the archangel’s face. “I’m glad to be back, Cassie.”

“I’m glad too.”

————

In between visits with Gabriel, Castiel found himself going on dates with Dean.

They would go to a diner, order burgers, and talk about nothing at all.

Cas was reminded of how easy it was to love Dean Winchester, and why he fell in love with this man in the first place.

They just...worked.

And Dean was so grateful to be with him — that Cas gave him another chance — that the angel couldn’t help but feel flattered.

Dean treated him like a goddamn king, and Cas loved every minute of it.

After every date, Dean would walk him to his door, like a gentleman, and promise to be back soon.

They hadn’t kissed yet. Not in a long time.

Castiel was making him work for it.

————

“You’re everything to me,” Dean said, the words spilling unbidden from his lips. “Do you know that?”

Castiel didn’t know that.

The seraphim found himself overcome with emotion. “I-”

“You’ve been thinking that you’re useless. Unworthy.” Dean’s voice was raw. “You’re not. You’re more than just a soldier.”

Castiel felt his walls crumbling, his insecurities stripped bare. 

Dean saw him. He really saw him.

Cas felt more conflicted than ever.

————

“I destroy everything I touch, don’t I?”

Castiel was curled up on the cold hard ground, falling and falling and falling and fa-

“So do I,” Dean replied.

Cas looked at Dean, and fell even more in love with him.

————

Watching Dean fall apart was torture for Castiel.

So, he did what he always did.

He ran.

————

Dean eyed Cain angrily.

“Just because you lost the love of your life,” Dean held out his knife, “doesn’t mean you get to take the love of mine!”

————

When Dean was back to normal, after the Mark of Cain, after becoming a demon, Cas fell back into the hunter’s arms.

————

“This will all end,” Dean said into Cas’s shoulder, “one day.”

“How do you know that?”

Dean smiled softly into Cas’s skin. “I have faith.”

————

Dean and Cas were happy for a little while after that.

They fell into an easy rhythm. Going on hunts, sneaking out on dates, Dean kissing Cas goodnight, Cas sometimes boldly crossing the threshold of Dean’s bedroom.

If they could only have each other occasionally, when the world wasn’t falling into ruins, they would make the most of what time they did have together.

————

“I want to marry you.”

Castiel tilted his head to look at Dean in confusion. They were basking in the afterglow when Dean said the words.

Cas blinked rapidly. “Y-you-”

“I want to marry you, Cas,” Dean said, with such conviction that Castiel was instantly speechless.

After opening and closing his mouth a few times, Cas swallowed. “H-have you thought this through?”

Dean placed a hand on Cas’s cheek, stroking his jawline with his thumb. “I’ve thought about this since our first kiss, darlin’.”

Cas asked quietly, in disbelief, “our first kiss?”

Dean ruffled Cas’s hair and smiled. “I knew when I kissed you that you were it for me. You’re the closest thing I’m gonna find to a happy ending.” He laughed a little. “I always thought I would go out in a blaze of glory, that I would die young. I never thought I would meet someone, especially an angel. Never even hoped for it.” Castiel listened intently, surprised at how candid Dean was being. The hunter said softly, “I’m stupidly in love with you, Cas. I really want to grow old with you. I want that chance.”

Castiel knew he must be blushing like mad. He hid his face for a moment — Dean’s gaze was too intense, too blinding, too loving — and breathed in Dean’s heady scent. He always smelled like pine trees and aftershave.

When Cas met Dean’s eyes again, he replied, “you make it hard to say no.”

————

The next day, Dean requested to be alone for an hour.

Shrugging, Cas read in the library until Dean burst through the doors.

Dean’s uncharacteristically bright smile took Castiel aback. The hunter stood an arm’s length away from Cas’s chair, rocking his feet back and forth.

Castiel closed his book. “What is it?”

Dean held out his palm. Cas gasped as he saw two wedding rings — one gold and one silver — resting in Dean’s hand.

“I made them,” Dean said proudly. “You like ‘em?”

Castiel blinked. “Y-you made them?”

“Mhm. Gold for me, silver for you.”

Cas was speechless, suddenly overwhelmed with love for this man.

“I’m guessing your silence is a good thing?” Dean asked hesitantly.

Castiel stood up abruptly, cupping Dean’s cheeks in his hands and kissing him soundly.

When Castiel pulled away after a moment, he said, “yes, it’s a very good thing.”

————

They knew they were going to destroy each other, push and pull away from each other, get pissed at each other, and hurt each other in the near future.

So, Dean and Cas made haste.

The latest problem would come soon. They had already been content for too long.

With an unknown force looming, the hunter and the angel snuck out that night and got married.

————

Dean was sure, without a doubt, that married sex was the best thing to ever exist.

————

“Castiel Winchester.”

Dean turned the name over and over like a coin, testing out each syllable on his lips.

He heard Cas laughing into his pillow. Dean turned towards his husband — hiding his face in the soft material, his hair sticking up in all directions — and pulled him closer. He let Cas laugh in the crook of his neck, Dean tracing hearts on the small of Cas’s back.

When Cas sobered up, he muttered, “you’ve said that almost fifty times today. Enough.”

Dean pressed a kiss into Cas’s hair and said gruffly, “I’ll stop saying it when I want to.” A beat. “Castiel Winchester.”

Cas groaned, Dean laughing as he held his husband in his arms tightly.

————

When Amara arrived, Dean and Cas were thrown into disarray once again.

————

Dean could tell Cas was angry.

Amara’s advances were ridiculous. Dean was utterly puzzled at how blind that woman seemed to be.

Cas was his one true love. It was obvious.

To everyone but her.

————

Castiel wasn’t one for jealousy.

But this was getting to be too much.

He didn’t care that Amara was God’s sister. He would gut her like a fish if she kept insisting that she and Dean should be together.

This had to be a test. A test of their relationship, of their marriage, to see what they would do. 

Or, more specifically, what Cas would do.

Castiel knew he had a temper. It easily rivalled Dean’s if he unleashed it, if he let it run free on the world and tear apart everything in its path.

But he didn’t.

Castiel was the Angel of Temperance.

So he held his tongue, and cast away his blade.

————

Dean carried around his gold wedding ring everywhere.

Whenever Cas wasn’t around, he would let the ring burn a hole in his pocket.

Whenever he needed strength, or a reminder about just who he loved completely, Dean would run his thumb over the familiar metal of the ring and smile.

————

The way Chuck was looking at him made Dean uncomfortable.

I mean, he was literally God. He knew absolutely everything.

Dean tried his best to keep his head in the game, but Chuck’s all-knowing glances distracted him.

When Chuck and Dean had a moment alone, the hunter stared at the floor awkwardly.

Chuck suddenly placed his hands on Dean’s shoulders, forcing the hunter to look up.

“Have faith, Dean,” Chuck said. “You will both be happy soon.”

Dean swallowed.

He wished Cas was here.

————

When Cas said yes to Lucifer, it took all of Dean’s willpower not to drink and fall into a depression.

He would stay strong.

He had to.

————

They got lucky with Amara.

Dean expected to die. He was ready to fade away, clutching his wedding band in his palm, images of Cas burning behind his eyelids.

But it all worked out.

Cas was back.

And Dean was beyond grateful.

————

“I noticed that Cas is here more often than usual.”

Dean raised an eyebrow at Sam. “Yeah...and?”

Sam stared at Dean pointedly. Dean stared right back, pretending not to know what his brother was insinuating.

Sam cleared his throat awkwardly, backing down from the subject. “Nothing.”

————

“Mine,” Cas growled.

“Yes,” Dean managed. As his senses were overloaded, Dean screamed in Enochian, “yours!”

————

When Dean saw Cas sitting in an armchair, he greeted him with a “hey darlin’.”

Cas cleared his throat, surprised at the hunter’s entrance. He closed the book resting on his lap. “It’s late. What are you doing up?”

“‘M restless, I dunno,” Dean mumbled. As he moved closer, Cas rested his book on a table nearby. Dean settled on Cas’s lap, wrapping his arms around the angel’s neck. “What are you doing in the library at half past midnight, darlin’?”

Cas shrugged. “Don’t feel like sleeping.”

Dean hummed. “What should we do about that, I wonder?”

Cas snorted. “Real funny, Dean.”

“I’ll take that as a no?” 

“It’s a no. Sorry.”

“Had to try it,” Dean muttered. “So, what do you wanna do?”

A beat. “Did you know that bees’ wings beat two hundred times per second?”

Dean chuckled. “I didn’t. Tell me more.”

So Dean and Cas spent the night talking about bees and everything in between.

————

They spent a lot of nights like that.

Dean would sit next to Cas in the bunker library, and they would talk.

Dean learned all sorts of things about Cas that surprised him.

And he learned the most important lesson of his life: Castiel deserved everything that Dean could give him.

————

Castiel taught Dean about their bond one night at two in the morning.

“So, when you said profound bond, you weren’t kidding?”

“Nope,” Cas replied. “It’s because I had to put you back together in Hell.”

Dean blinked. “Your grace-”

“Is partially inside you.” Castiel cleared his throat awkwardly. “Yeah. It’s weird when you say it like that.”

Dean snickered. “Get your mind out of the gutter.”

“And whose fault is it that it’s in the gutter?”

Dean chuckled. “Fair enough.” A beat. “Is that why kissing you feels more intense?”

“I love you too, Dean.”

“That’s not-” Dean exhaled, “I just meant...everything makes me feel all tingly inside, I guess. I know that’s genuine love, but-”

“It’s like an electricity.”

“Yes. An electricity.”

“That’s the bond, yes.”

As if to test it out, Dean leaned forward, pressing a barely-there kiss to Cas’s lips. Dean felt the telltale spark light up his veins, leaving aftershocks in its wake.

Dean hummed in pleasure. “It’s like kissing a lightning bolt.”

“Or a firecracker.”

Dean smiled. “Or a firecracker.”

————

Of course, Lucifer had to go and ruin everything.

————

Dead.

Cas was dead.

His angel was dead.

Castiel Winchester was dead.

His husband was dead.

It all felt so wrong. Dean thought he was dreaming. He thought he would wake up and everything would be fine. Cas wasn’t dead.

He wasn’t.

————

Dean gazed upon Cas’s unmoving body — lying so still on the table — and shattered into a trillion pieces.

————

Dean felt numb.

He drifted about aimlessly like a ghost, there in body, but not in mind or spirit.

The hunter, for the first time in years and years, felt absolutely nothing but pain.

————

Alcohol seemed to cry out to Dean.

But he closed his hands into fists, and didn’t give in to the temptation.

He wasn’t that Dean anymore.

He wouldn’t be ever again.

————

Dean wanted to die.

He knew full well the injection probably wouldn’t bring him back.

He didn’t want to leave Sam this way, but he couldn’t take it anymore. He wanted to go out heroically, doing something meaningful.

However, Dean’s plan was hijacked by Death herself.

————

Hearing Cas’s gravelly voice on the phone nearly made Dean crash Baby into a tree.

He thought it was a trick, but that voice…

It was him. Their bond was screaming.

It was Cas.

————

After breaking every speed law, Dean’s brain short circuited at the sight of him.

His husband looked beautiful, just as Dean left him.

————

The second Dean got Cas alone, he cornered him and kissed him senseless.

He needed Cas like he needed air.

He never wanted to let go of Cas again.

————

“Someone’s being awfully clingy,” Castiel said pointedly.

Dean, currently wrapped around Cas like a koala, muttered, “hush, darlin’.”

Castiel rolled his eyes, their unclad forms barely covered by Dean’s bedsheets. The hunter was resting his head on Cas’s chest, listening to his steady heartbeat and drawing shapes across Cas’s stomach. As usual, Cas draped his wings around Dean, the hunter humming at the familiar brush of feathers.

Castiel should be dead. He knew this.

Making love to Dean this time was vastly different. The way Dean looked at him, like he was expecting Cas to disappear, made him feel a sliver of guilt.

He was gone for too long. 

Which was why Dean seemed to be fascinated with his heartbeat at the moment. 

Instead of Castiel waging war with himself, he silenced any negative thoughts and focused on the man he loves.

Cas ran a finger down Dean’s spine, smirking at the hunter’s shiver. Dean made a noise of protest, holding Cas even tighter and pressing his clean-shaven face directly over Cas’s heart.

Castiel was hyper-aware of his heartbeat all of a sudden. Time seemed to slow as he felt his heart pounding out of his chest erratically. Cas felt Dean smile against his skin. 

“That ‘cause of me, darlin’?”

Cas pressed a kiss into Dean’s hair in answer. 

After a few moments of comfortable silence — Dean still listening to Cas’s heartbeat attentively — the hunter said, “I love you so much.”

Castiel smiled. “I love you too.”

————

Observing Cas with Jack gave Dean these warm fuzzy feelings.

His husband was a good role model.

And the similarities between Cas and Jack were hard to ignore.

When Cas was gone, it hurt Dean just to look at Jack, to see him reflected in the spawn of Lucifer’s eyes.

He needed to point fingers at someone for his husband’s death. He wrongly chose Jack. He knew how dumb it was, but emotionless Dean didn’t care about that.

Now that Dean was back, now that he had Cas by his side once more, he could see how having a nephilim that emulated Cas could be a comfort.

Cas and Jack were kind of adorable, if Dean was being honest. The way Jack always listened to Cas — like he was a wise old mage — and followed his advice was endearing.

Yeah, Dean was incredibly wrong about Jack.

————

“Hey kiddo,” Dean said casually, sitting next to Jack.

“Hi,” Jack said neutrally.

“Look,” Dean started, “I shouldn’t have blamed you for things that were out of your control. I’m sorry.”

Jack smiled. “I understand, Dean. Castiel is the one you love. And love defies logic. I can see that now.”

Dean blinked. “Are you sure you were born only a few months ago?”

“Yes,” Jack replied. “Was that what Castiel referred to as a rhetorical question?”

“It is,” Dean answered. “You’re a good kid, Jack.”

“Thank you,” Jack said. A pause. “I’m glad you and Castiel have each other.”

With that, Jack left the room, Dean rendered speechless.

————

Castiel was not expecting to see Dean and Jack eating chocolate ice cream at eleven o’clock at night.

Seeing Dean with Jack, seeing them get along, made Cas feel warm inside.

When Dean saw him lining the entryway to the bunker kitchen, he froze and smiled shyly. 

Jack noticed the movement and waved to Cas. “Hi Castiel! Dean is teaching me about ice cream.”

Dean blushed a little. 

Castiel guessed this made him the default stern parent. He didn’t feel like ruining this moment, though. He would let them have this one.

Cas approached Dean and Jack. “I’ll have some ice cream.”

Jack grinned gleefully. 

————

“I need to borrow your ring,” Dean declared the next morning.

Cas raised an eyebrow. “Why?”

Dean smiled. “It’s a surprise. You’ll get it back later, okay?”

Cas didn’t even try to argue. He took his ring out of his trench coat pocket and placed it in Dean’s open palm.

————

Dean waited until Sam and Jack went to sleep for the night to give Cas his ring back.

Cas glanced at the hunter expectantly. “So,” he prompted.

Dean held out both of their wedding bands in his hand.

Cas picked up his ring and examined it. Something on the inside caught the light. Cas looked closer, his breath hitching.

Dean carved his and Castiel’s name in Enochian symbols inside each ring.

Cas swallowed thickly. “H-how-”

“A magician never reveals his secrets.”

Cas felt his eyes welling up with tears. He blinked them back. He said softly in Enochian, “I love you.”

Dean ruffled Cas’s hair. “I love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> We’ll be back to our regularly scheduled programming next weekend. Kudos and comments are appreciated!


End file.
